A watchdog takes a nap

Our opinion: The Public Authorities Control Board failed the public in not asking for details on financing for the Tappan Zee bridge replacement — especially future tolls.

New Yorkers this week witnessed a glaring example of how a state entity put in place to protect the public can be hijacked by politicians for their personal protection.

The entity was the Public Authorities Control Board, which rubber-stamped a $255 million loan by the Environmental Facilities Corp. to the Thruway Authority to help pay for a replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge. The politicians include Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate co-leader Dean Skelos. Together, they control the Control Board, and they clearly don’t want a public discussion about inevitable toll hikes in an election year.

The board is required to review the financing of projects by 14 state authorities, including the EFC. It is not supposed to approve a project unless it determines that there are commitments of funds to pay for it. For a bridge built by the Thruway Authority, that means one thing: tolls.

Yet Mr. Cuomo has adamantly refused to divulge details of his plan to pay for the $3.9 billion project.

Little wonder. It’s likely that tolls will go up not only at that Hudson River crossing, but on the Thruway, as well. And quite possibly on other routes people might take to avoid the bridge if its tolls are too high.

Not that we’re necessarily opposed to higher tolls. The Tappan Zee needs to be replaced and it needs to be paid for. That’s reality.

Mr. Cuomo wants to borrow $511 million, at little or no interest, in unspent funds from the EFC’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund — money that comes from the federal government for things like sewer system upgrades, pollution control, and aquatic habitat and wildlife projects. Critics say most of the proposed uses, such as demolition and removal of the old bridge, are a misuse of the federal funds. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, too, voices concern about this diversion of funds, and notes the absence of “thorough and clear documentation” on how the loan would save money — in other words, hard numbers.

Yet with no such details forthcoming, the Public Authorities Control Board cleared the proposal on Wednesday, 3-0, approving the first half of the loan. What passed for due diligence was a gratuitous protest by Mr. Skelos’ representative, Sen. John DeFranciso, who said he fought for more information and noted that the remaining funds won’t come without specifics.

So a quarter-billion dollars is loaned in the dark, instead of half a billion. How prudent.

There was no need to rush here. To demand pertinent details would not have been obstructionism. It would have been a message that politicians cannot raid public authorities without full justification and explanation, even if the answers might annoy voters or provide useful fodder for political challengers this fall.

Mr. Cuomo may like to call the proposed span the New NY Bridge, but this sham of a process was old-style, backroom politics at its worst.